Coating and feeding device



Sept. 28, 193 7.

F. P. CARLSO COATING AND FEEDING Filed May 8, 19

DEVICE INVENTOR. Han/r1? (22213022 ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 1937 UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,094,349 coa'rme mFEEDING DEVICE mm P. Carlson, New York, N. Y.

Application May 8, 1935, Serial No. 29,347

.7 Claims.

This invention relates broadly to coating and feeding devices and formsa continuation in part of my application Serial No. 732,782, filed by meJune 28th, 1934, under the heading Double and single coating device.

In the above mentioned application, there is disclosed an apparatus forcoating and manipulating work in the form of relatively soft, pliable,thin, individual sheets, possessing either very little or no stiffnessof their own, and which work is intended to be coated in an endless,close succession, similating the coating of a continuous web, allwithout the necessity of gripping the individual sheets prior to, duringor after'the coating operation.

The presently known methods of coating work in the form of individualsheets apply principally to sheets having a natural body stiffness orrigidity, that is to say, work sheets of a relatively heavy body, suchas cardboard, metal sheets and the like. Such sheets may be relativelyeasily handled prior to, during and after a coating operation. They arenot easily subject to deformations during the feeding and coatingprocesses, andwill readily stripf, that is, they will not adhere to thedevices by means of which the coating is applied to them, due to theirnatural stiifness.

In heretofore well known devices for coating soft, .pliable,firmness-lacking sheets, so-called grippers" are employed for propellingthe sheets during many or all stages of such operations, which grippersnot only leave undesirable marks upon the coated work, but the use ofwhich grippers" preclude a rapid, continuous operation, such as ispossible when coating a continuous web. a

The present invention deals with the process of applying a coating towork, consisting of individual, soft, pliable, thin sheets of material,which lack a natural stiffness, without the use of grippers, which workwould be unsuitable and impossible to handle by heretofore known coatingdevices, unlessv grippers were employed.

Therefore, the principal object of this invention is the process ofapplying a coating, be it in the form of gumming, varnishing, printingor the like, to work consisting of individual, thin, soft, pliablesheets, possessing relatively little stiffness of their own, producingsuch coating in a. continuous succession, so as to similate the coatingof a continuous web, all without the employment of grippers forpropelling the work prior to the coating operation, while being coated,and when discharged after the coating operation.

Another important object of this invention is to provide suitable meansfor handling work of the above stated nature without the use ofgrippers, and whereby the individual sheets are constantly maintainedunder desired control, from the time they leave the place where they arestacked, until the point when they are discharged after having beencoated.

Another important object of this invention is to provide means foraccurately controlling the position, the approach and the timing of eachindividual sheet, while the work is fed into the machine and through thedevice in close success1on.

The foregoing and a number of other objects and advantages of thepresent invention will become more fully apparent from the ensuingdescrlption, in connection with the appended diagrammatical drawing,which latter serves more or less for explanatory purposes only, andwhich therefore is not intended to limit my invention to the specificstructure shown, and in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of apreferred form of my device, and

Figure 2 is a fragmental end elevation, as seen from the stack end of mydevice.

In thefigures, numeral l0 denotes a well or container, partially filledwith a liquid medium, such as ink, glue, varnish or any other applicablesubstance, indicated at H. Numeral l2 denotes a relatively long supplyelevating roller or cylinder, which partially extends into the liquid lI. Adjacent to roller l2, and adjustable relative thereto, is a doctorroller l3, by means of which the amount or thickness of liquid, elevatedfrom the well, is governed. I

Numeral ll denotes one or a plurality of ad Justable, primary applyingrollers, which are in cooperating contact with supply roller l2.

Numeral I 5 indicates one or more secondary applying rollers which arein cooperating contact with primary applying rollers ll. These secondaryapplying rollers are also adjustable and their number corresponds to thenumber of primary applying rollers l4. I

Numeral l6 denotes reciprocating distributing rollers, in operativecontact with secondary applying rollers l5. Rollers l6 are mounted inpairs, one pair for each secondary applying roller l5. Thesedistributing rollers are shown in broken lines for the reason that theymay or may not be used, depending upon' whether the work is to be coatedeither at both of its faces or at one of its faces only.

Numeral I1 denotes feed-in conveyors which extend from their right-handreceiving point II to their left-hand discharge point I8, and arearranged between primary applying rollers ll. Thus, their range ofoperation extends into the range of operation of rollers l4 and I8.

Numeral 20 denotes resilient, adjustable, workpositioning rollers,mounted in pairs, which may be manipulated by means of a springcontrolled arrangement 2!. These rollers are preferably held within apivoted arm 22, which is hinged at 23 to fixed arm 24. The rollers 20operate permanently between the belts of feed-in conveyors I1, and areso positioned as to always remain out of possible contact with saidconveyors.

To the right of conveyors I], there will be seen a stack of soft,pliable, relatively thin, individual sheets, supported by a movableplatform 25, and which stack is held in its proper position by asuitable frame work, as indicated at 26, the end 26' of. which isadjustable for guiding work of various dimensions. Each of the sheets isadapted to be individually handled by a sheet separating device, asindicated at 21, and which may consist of a suction arrangement by meansof which each individual sheet may be elevated as seen at 28, andbrought forward so as to become engaged between the belts of the feed-inconveyors and the position-controlling rollers 20.

At the left end of conveyor l1, there will be observed a drying conveyor29, the construction and operation of which is explained in theaforementioned co-pending application,

Operation The arrangement of my device readily facilitates coating workeither at one or simultaneously at both of its faces. When both facesare to be coated, distributing rollers it are employed. The coatingmaterial is lifted from well ID by means of supply cylinder l2. Thethickness of the coating is controlled by doctor'roller I3. The materiallifted by cylinder I2 is transferred to primary applying roller orrollers It. From the primary roller, the coating material is transferredto upper or secondary applying roller It. It is to be noted from Figure2 that not the entire surface area of the applying rollers is employedfor engaging and coating sheet 28'.

Now, when sheet 28 is passed between the feed-in conveyors I1 and theposition-controlling rollers 20, the sheet is caused to be propelled bybelts ll towards applying rollers M and It. By

adjusting rollers 20, the front or leading edge of the sheet may beaccurately positioned and maintained at any desired angular relation torollers II and I5 and exactly timed.

It is also to be observed that the distance between the centre line ofthe position-controlling rollers 20 and the centre line of applyingrollers H and I5, marked A, is considerably shorter than the length ofthe sheets, marked B. Due to this arrangement, the sheets become engagedby applying rollers ll and [5, while they are still being held undercontrol of rollers 20, whereby the sheet is constantly maintained undertheir influence, that is, prior to and during the coating application.

The employment of relatively narrow rollers I4 and I5 is particularlyintended for what is known as "edge coating, that is to say, theapplication of the coating in stripe form along the edges of the sheets.Due to the fact that the coating applying area of the primary applyingis not completely covered by the latter, a portion of the coatingmaterial will be transferred to the secondary roller, which transferredcoating material is then distributed by distributing rollers it over theentire applying area'of the secondary roller II, from which it isapplied to the upper surface of the work.

Assuming now that the sheet 28 reaches the applying rollers, the primaryroller will transfer a portion of its coating upon the bottom surface ofthe sheet, while the secondary roller will simultaneously apply asimilar coating on the top surface of the sheet, and as the coatingapplication is taking place, the sheet is being propelled by both thefeeding conveyor and the applying rollers, while still being maintainedunder the control of work-positioning roller 20, until the sheet isdischarged from the applying rollers.

In order to prevent the adherence of the relatively thin, pliable sheetsto the upper or secondary applying roller, I provide suitable means forso-called stripping" the sheet. In this case,

there is illustrated one or more arms 30, adapted to deflect the sheetagainst drying conveyor 28. For the purpose of assuring uniformity ofthe coating in the places designated or desired, it is absolutelyessential that the sheets be delivered to the coating applying rollers,at regular intervals and at uniform position, which uniformity isachieved by the exact adjustment and setting of position-controllingrollers 20.

When the coating is to be applied onlyto one face of the work, theentire mechanism, as illustrated in the drawing, remains the same withthe exception of the upper distributing rollers 18, which aretemporarily disengaged from secondary applying roller IS. The differencein opera-- tion between the simultaneous double coating and the singlecoating of the work lies in the fact that whatever coating istransferred to the secondary coating roller, it is prevented fromreaching the upper surface of the work. This is accomplished by sotiming and positioning the sheets that they reach the secondary applyingroller exactly at the same spot, one after the other, whereby theapplying surface of the secondary roller is constantly being blanked orblotted by the preceding sheet. For this purpose, the circumference ofthe upper roller must either correspond to, or exceed the length of thework, as is clearly described in the above cited co-pending application.7

Summarizing, the foregoing description clearly states that the presentinvention is intended for handling soft, pliable, individual sheetslacking body stiffness, which are intended to be fed in an endlesssuccession, that is to say, one sheet following the other as closely aspracticable, so as to similate the progress of an endless web, and thatduring the entire operation of feeding the sheets into the applyingdevice and during the application of the coating upon the work, thelatter is not gripped, and therefore is not marred by the heretoforementioned unsightly marks on the coated surface. For both single ordouble-face coating, it is important to adjust, time and control theposition of the sheet relative to the applying rollers, and to maintainthe work thus controlled while the application of the coating is takingplace, and while the individual sheets are in motion.

While I am aware of various devices for coating, without gripping,relatively still work in sheet form, I truly believe that I am theoriginator of coating soft, pliable, individual sheets, possessingeither very little or no stiffness of their own, and handling them in anendless succession, to similate the handling of a continuous web,without the application or use of gripping means. Furthermore, I am notaware of any devices by means of which the positioning, timing andpropulsion of such soft, pliable, individual sheets may be accomplished,except by those as described herein.

While I have mentioned and illustrated specific forms of my device, itis obvious that my invention is not to be limited bysuch disclosure, andI therefore reserve for myself the right to modify and improve upon thestructural details thereof, all within the broad scope of my invention,as covered by the annexed claims.

I claim:

1. In means for applying coating to soft, pliable work in individualsheet form, without the use of grippers, work control means foraccurately .positioning, timing, spacing and propelling individualsheets and for maintaining the moving sheets in their controlledposition prior to, and during the coating operation, said meansincluding coating applying elements, work propelling elements extendinginto and beyond the range of operation of said applying elements, andadjustable, yieldingly. mounted work-positioning elements incooperation, but out of possible contact with said work propellingelements.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with a pluralityof coating applying means, designed for coating soft, pliable work inindividual sheet form without the use of grippers, of work control meansfor accurately timing, spacing and propelling individual sheets and formaintaining the moving sheets in their controlled position prior to, andwhile being engaged by said coating applying means, said work controlmeans including movable work supporting and work feeding means, andindividually adjustable workposition controlling means in cooperationbut out of possible contact with said work supporting and feeding means.

3. In a device as set forth in the immediately preceding claim, saidmovable work supporting and feeding means extending into and beyond thethe range of operation of said coating applying means, and saidwork-position controlling means being so positioned relative to saidcoating applying means, as to maintain their controlling influence uponthe sheets prior to their engagement and after becoming engaged by saidcoating applying means.

4. In a gripper-less device for applying a coating, printing or the liketo a continuous succession of individual pieces of work, coatingapplying means, a work feed for conveying work pieces at a desiredsequence and evenly spaced apart, and at least two resilient,individually adjustable tension-controlled governing means in permanentcooperation but out of possible contact with said work feed forpositioning and for maintaining the position of the work pieces duringand relative to the direction of their travel, until and after beingengaged by said applying means, said work feed comprising spaced beltconveyors, and, said governing means consisting of a pair of rollers,each disposed between two adjacent belts.

5. In a gripper-less feeding means for coating mechanism, includingcoating applying means, a feeding mechanism, comprising the combinationwith means for separating and individually manipulating singleworkpieces in a desired sequence, of work conveying means in cooperationwith said work separating means, a pair of individually adjustable,tension-controlled work positioning means in permanent cooperation butout of possible contact with said conveying means, the latter adapted tosupport the work while it is being subjected to the coating operation,and said pair of positioning means being adapted to maintain the work atits desired relation to said coating applying means, prior to, and afterbecoming engaged by the latter, by urging the work against saidconveying means according to their individual adjustment.

6. In a feeding mechanism for a device for applying coating to onesurface of soft, pliable work in the form of individual sheets ofuniform length, without the employment of grippers, said deviceincluding coating applying means, work feeding means extending into thefield of operation of the latter, a pair of work positioning means, inpermanent cooperation but out of possible contact with said feedingmeans, adapted to control the position of the work until the latterreaches and is engaged by said coating applying means, said work feedingmeans being so timed as to deliver successively each individual sheet tosaid coating applying means, while the latter is in a certainpredetermined position, thereby preventing the application of thecoating to the opposite face of the work, and work stripping meansdisposed in near proximity to said coating applying means for deflectingthe coated work from the latter.

7. In a gripperless feeding mechanism .for coating applying devices,intended for soft, pliable work in the form of individual sheets ofuniform length, said coating devices including coating applying means,said feeding mechanism comprising a plurality of spaced belt conveyorsextending into and beyond the field of operation of said coatingapplying means, a pair of tensionally induced, individually adjustable,resilient work positioning rollers, disposed, individually, between twoadjacent belt conveyors and adapted to permanently cooperate with thelatter without the possibility of ever coming in contact therewith, saidrollers adapted to control the position of the work relative to saidbelt conveyors, de*-,

pending upon their individual adjustment, the I' rollers being furtheradapted to hold the work under their influence until and after the workis engaged by said coating applying means, said feeding mechanism beingso timed as to deliver successively, each individual sheet of the workto the coating applying means in a continuous, close order, and at anydesired position relative to said coating applying means, and workstripping means in cooperation with said coating applying means fordeflecting the work from the latter after the completion of the coatingoperation.

FRANK P. CARLSON.

